Happy Monday! Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, “This is the day which the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it”! Psalm 118:24
We returned mid-week from a great vacation back to Missouri for our annual family reunion. It was so good to spend time with family and visit with some very special friends too! My titanium hips and I actually got on a horse and rode like the wind!! Well, maybe it was just a breeze, but it felt like the wind! I grew up with horses, but that’s the first time I had been on horseback for about 30 years or so. I know my daddy was laughing right along with me!
Have you noticed how different parts of our lives can parallel each other? I have my health and wellness journey and then there is this other journey called everyday life. Maybe the single most important thing I have discovered about the two is that they will be exactly what I make them to be. There will be failures and successes and there will be joys and heartbreaks BUT, how I deal with each of them will determine the ultimate outcome.
You have all patiently?? listened as I vented my occasional frustrations when my journey didn’t go as I had hoped, but when it comes right down to it, I have two choices. I can give up and let my health go back to what it used to be or I can make that U-turn and look at the long term. If you are or have been in the stock market, you have heard the proverbial “look at the long term results”. And that is how our lives are. There are momentary highs and lows, but what really counts is the long term result.
As I have said before, will say again, and we all know anyway, this is not a journey that we have to travel alone. We have a God who is full of grace and mercy and is always there to help us get through everything we battle with. I know I am also very fortunate to have a strong and loving support group in The Daniel Plan. I pray each of you feel that support in your lives.
Pray Unceasingly!
In His light,
Lois
Fullness of Joy
You always show me the path of life. You will fill me with joy when I am with you. You will make me happy forever at your right hand. —Psalm 16:11 NIrV
God has made known to us the path of genuine, abundant life. That means we don’t need to figure it all out on our own, because he’s paved the way in front of us. Every day we simply put one foot in front of the other. We are like the Israelites crossing the Red Sea, taking step after step in faith that the waters will stay parted and the ground will be dry.
Along this path, in his presence, there’s fullness of joy. When the hard things come around, there’s that choice to stay on the path, to put one foot in front of the other, to find joy in the midst of the chaos, to find his presence there with us.
At the end of the film The Bucket List, one of the characters is passing away and he says, “I’m just going to ask you to do one more thing for me. Find the joy in your life.” We can find the joy by taking those persistent steps of trust with God by our side.
Food for Thought: God has fully given us joy in his presence; right next to him are pleasures forevermore.